Murse
by Gussie Manlove
Summary: When Konoha Hospital hires a new nurse, Sasuke has never found himself wanting to teach an anatomy class so badly! SasuNaru, Lemons
1. Prologue

Dr. Uchiha Sasuke huffed as he placed a chart on the desk at the Nurses Station. The exaggerated sound emitted from the normally completely silent man, drew the attention of at least half of the female population in the room; each wondering if, perhaps, this exhale might mean something other than he was frustrated.

Unfortunately for them, Sasuke was frustrated.

He was currently on clinic duty, which, to him, was probably the worst torture one could afflict upon a young doctor. Doctors just mere _months_ into their career shouldn't have to deal with middle aged women suffering from a mid-life crisis, teens with their junk stuck in a soda can, or old men with a saggy skin rash. It was horrible and scarring and just plain bothersome.

Picking up the chart of his next patient (and his last of the morning, thank God) he quickly glanced over the main details.

_Name: _Akihiko Toya

_Age: _57

Hn. That'll do.

"Hello Akihiko-san," Sasuke said as he walked into exam room 2, closing the door firmly behind him "I'm Dr. Uchiha, what seems to be the problem?" He very nearly spat the forced words out; a nurse on the 3rd floor scripted the whole introduction for him. Her name was Sakura and, being a lesbian, he found her the only tolerable nurse in the whole damn hospital.

"Good morning," Akihiko said pleasantly with a smile. Sasuke found himself not hating the man as much as he thought he might. The man was quite short, about 4 inches shorter than Sasuke himself (who stood at a proud 6ft). His clothes were quite casual, much to Sasuke's distaste, his worn and ragged trainers looked horrible next to Sasuke's own dress shoes. However, something about the twinkle in his gentle brown eyes, the thinning of his hair, flecked with grey; it was…endearing.

"Well, you see, lately I haven't been able to, err, _perform_ well in the bedro-"

Did he say endearing?

"A prescription for Viagra, please don't hesitate to return should negative side effects occur. Thank you Akihiko-san, but I must be going," With that, Sasuke left the room, hiding his disgust rather well.

He wrote in the prescription before placing the chart back onto the nurse's desk. Without even having to ask, the chart disappeared within seconds, along with a waft of perfume and a shy giggle.

If they thought he was impressed by giggles and perfume, then they had another thing coming. Not only was Sasuke attracted only to men, but he hated everything about girls.

He despised girly smells, loathed long flowing hair, despised breasts, avoided vaginas (at all cost): he was practically a monk…

…Aside from the fact that he loved cock with a passion.

Sadly, since leaving medical school, Sasuke had not gotten much sex. He had focused his time trying to find a job, and then an apartment closer to work, and then he had to drive to other side of the freaking city at least twice a week to visit his family.

Now that he was settled in his job (barely), he really wanted to get laid. He was so sexually frustrated; it wasn't even funny. Disturbingly, he'd even found the little twinkle in Akihiko-san's eye a bit of a turn on.

He was desperate.

But Uchiha's never settled for less than perfect: it was just how they were.

Sighing, he looked at the large clock on the wall, noting that it was time for his 15-minute break, before his 4 hour-long shift on 3rd floor: paediatrics.

When he had first begun his medical training at Yale, Uchiha Sasuke had wanted to be a surgeon: and he was, only, not in the sense that he had thought. He found the way the human body worked absolutely fascinating, and, although he was never one to express his emotions, found himself feeling good when he helped people.

His career altering choice was made when he and a few of the other top students were able to shadow a doctor for a week. The doctor they had followed hadn't been the most competent doctor Sasuke had ever laid eyes on, but one day, when Sasuke and his fellow students were out to lunch, he managed to find himself temporarily unable to encounter the equitable location of dining (…he couldn't find the lunch room). Frustratingly, he ended up on the hospital floor and, there, was where he met her.

Hoshiyo was a beautiful little girl. Her hair was long and coloured a surprisingly nice shade of tawny brown, her hazelnut-brown eyes sparkled with life as she lay in her bed. Peach-coloured lips stretched into a smile when she saw him glance over to her. Her smile was dazzling.

"Hello," she spoke; her gentle voice was quiet but so kind sounding. Sasuke was strangely drawn to her.

"Hello," he replied as he turned to face the girl fully. He noticed the bags around her eyes, her pale, sickly skin and when she then coughed, her small, fragile body shook as if it would just fall apart. After a small coughing fit that drew no attention from any passing doctors or nurses, the girl giggled cutely.

"Sorry about that," she said before gesturing to a chair at her side "please, sit down," Without really thinking, Sasuke took a seat at her side. The girl giggled again.

"You're very quiet, sir," she said with a bright smile.

"Hn," she giggled again.

"Surely you can do better than that," she grinned and, after receiving no reply, spoke herself "My name's Hoshiyo. What's yours?"

"Sasuke," Sasuke replied "Uchiha Sasuke,"

"Can I call you Sasuke-san?" she asked politely. Sasuke nodded. "Why are you here by my bed, Sasuke-san?"

"You told me to," he said, an eyebrow arched inquisitively. Hoshiyo laughed.

"Do you do everything little girls tell you to, Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke hated to admit it, but he blushed at the accusation before he shook his head 'no'. Hoshiyo's soft tinkling laugh filled the room once more. There was a short silence in which the only sound was the beeping of support machines.

"How old are you?" he found himself asking the girl.

"I'm 9," she smiled, sitting up on her bed and clasping her hands together in her lap.

"Why…" _are you here?_ Sasuke looked around the room, trying to think of the right way to phrase it.

"Cancer,"

Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction and he was suddenly unable to speak.

"Leukaemia," she said, flashing her bright smile to a very confused Sasuke.

"I…I'm so…"

"Sorry?" she asked, blinking as she looked up at him with her big brown eyes. "Don't be. It's my problem, and you've only known me for 10 minutes," she giggled again, followed by another coughing fit. Sasuke frowned, placing a hand on her back as an attempt at comfort.

Hoshiyo stopped coughing and laughed at his lousy attempt of comforting.

The next few months, Sasuke would go to the hospital after class to see Hoshiyo. He learnt so much about her: she was so grown up for someone so young. Her mother had died during birth, and her father had disappeared before she was born: she had been in an orphanage for the first 7 years of her life previous to her being diagnosed with cancer. Every now and then, a few friends from the orphanage would visit; but it wasn't often as the orphanage had very limited funds and was unable to afford the cost for a visit. She was very alone; but Sasuke was there to help her out.

The two became, dare he say it, friends. An odd relationship, indeed…

He had one or two angry nurses accuse him of being a paedophile, on multiple occasions…but he honestly couldn't just leave the poor girl. Hoshiyo was a special girl; he'd never met anyone like her. She was so inspiring and innocent and pure…

When he arrived at the hospital on Hoshiyo's birthday only to find that she had passed the night before, just hours after he had left – to say Sasuke was upset was an understatement.

He'd spent the next week holed up in his dorm room, refusing to go to class or speak to anyone.

It was then that he decided to become a paediatrician. Sasuke knew he couldn't let anything like that happen again, and he'd do it all for Hoshiyo.

Walking through the halls of Konoha Hospital, Sasuke made his way to the elevator, his 15-minute break long over. He made his way to paediatrics and was greeted by a pink-haired nurse with bright emerald-green eyes and a smile.

"Good morning, Sasuke," she said, handing him a chart "how was clinic duty?" she winked and stuck out her tongue while Sasuke let out something akin to a growl in response.

"That bad, huh?" she giggled and began walking away. Sasuke started flipping through the chart, growing anxious when he recognised the name of the patient. "Oh!" before he could get to the latest test results, Sakura came right back to his side, flicking his forehead to get his attention.

"Stop flicking me, you bitch," he grumbled, narrowing his eyes. She laughed, dismissing his anger with a wave of her hand.

"Since Nagi's away on maternity leave, we've got a new murse helping us out," she explained.

"Who the hell is Nagi?" Sasuke asked with a frown. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You know! Nagi! Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes…" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Sakura let out a frustrated sigh, "up the duff?" she accented his lovely phrase by putting her hands in front of her stomach to mime a pregnant woman.

"Oh, her…" of course, Sasuke didn't have a clue who this girl was; but he'd only been working there for 8 months! How was he supposed to know their names?

"Still, I think all of the antiseptic fumes must be getting to your head, because you just mis-pronounced 'nurse'," he told her with a smirk. She simply grinned.

"I didn't mis-pronounce anything," she giggled "I think you're going to like him!"

With that, his pink-haired friend skipped away joyfully, causing him to roll his eyes. He almost went to the charts to pick up his patient's, when he remembered Sakura had already handed it to him.

Takeo was 10 years old and had been in a car accident the previous year. He had lost the use of his leg in the collision and, with recent developments in ketamine treatment, he could be eligible for an experimental treatment that could really help him.

Looking through the chart, Sasuke couldn't help but smile when he realised that Takeo fit the criteria and would be able to join the experiment. With a genuine smile, he walked into Takeo's room, chart in hand, only to find his parents there. Normally, his Mother arrived, alone, at 12:30 and his Father turned up a little later at around 6:00pm; but today they were both there at 11:30…something was up.

"Ah, Dr. Uchiha, we were wondering when you would get here," Takeo's Mother spoke in a soft voice "You see…we've been thinking…"

"We don't want Takeo to have the treatment," Takeo's Father cut her off in a stern voice.

"…I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly," Sasuke folded his arms, smile long gone.

"Sorry Dr. Uchiha," Takeo said from his bed, looking quite upset "Mummy and Daddy said they don't want me anywhere near the kettle-mins," he said.

"Ketamine, Takeo," His Mother corrected him, stroking his sandy brown hair.

"May I please speak with you outside?" Sasuke asked the boy's parents, leaving the room before they could say no. He waited outside of the room for Takeo's parents, trying to understand their line of thinking.

"Yes, Dr. Uchiha?"

"Why?" Sasuke asked simply.

"Well, we don't want to get his hopes up," his Mother began "if the treatment doesn't work, he could become severely depressed,"

"And what if it _did_ work?" Sasuke asked "Your son would be able to walk again. He wouldn't be in pain anymore: he wouldn't need the morphine!"

Takeo had been taking morphine on a regular basis to help him cope with the pain.

"It just sounds far too dangerous," his Father concluded, folding his arms. Sasuke exploded.

"Dangerous how? The worst thing that could happen would be that it doesn't work; which only means things will be the same as they are now, and the only other side effects are so minor, they are things that could happen to absolutely anyone! He could be cured and, if not, he would be helping research to help more people in the future! There is no down side to this treatment!"

Having realised he'd lost his cool, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to apologise to these people and, instead, stormed off to the nurses station to find Sakura.

* * *

When Sakura found Sasuke, he was in a closet with his head against the wall, fists clenched on either side of him.

"Sasuke…" she said, walking into the closet and taking one of his clenched hands "I heard about what happened…" she pried open his fist and placed something cold and metallic in his palm "I know you don't want to talk right now, and I also know how much you hate the phone, so, if you want to talk, this is a key to my apartment. I'll see you later," she said softly, walking to the door "Oh, and Dr. Tsunade is coming to paediatrics soon to talk to Takeo's parents herself. She's also going to be looking for you, about your outburst, so lay low for a while okay?" she smiled and left the closet.

Sasuke didn't say a word, but tightened his grip on the spare key.

* * *

_Author's Note:_  
Okay guys! This is the prologue to 'Murse'! If you want me to continue with it, please leave me a review!...it certainly looked longer in Word...5 pages longer...but oh well!

So, no Naruto yet, but he's on his way! Next chapter for sure!

Also, I know that I've made Sasuke a little _too_ nice and _too_ emotional, but I think that that's okay…considering his line of work. If it really bothers you though, please let me know and I'll be sure to make him more of a hard-ass!

I'll be sure to work on the next chapter soon! Expect it within the next few weeks!


	2. Chapter 1

Uchiha Sasuke walked into work that next morning with a less-than-proper stagger. He ignored the suspicious glances from the front desk nurses and headed straight to his locker on the 3rd floor.

He stepped through the doors to the elevator, hoping upon hope that he wouldn't have to share that horribly awkward elevator silence with another person. Unfortunately, just as the doors were about to close, a pale hand stopped them and walked in. The doors shut behind the newcomer.

The man that had joined Sasuke in the elevator was named Hyuuga Neji. He and Sasuke had been good friends as children, both with aspirations to become doctors. After attending University together, they had both found new friendship groups and didn't find much time to talk anymore.

The Hyuuga's were a prestigious family, much like his own, and had had a very fortunate childhood. If he hadn't wanted to become a doctor, it probably wouldn't have mattered because his family had enough money to sustain his life for over 100 years. It was a miracle that Neji had ended up deciding to work for a living, after being hand-fed for his whole life.

One genetic defect of the Hyuuga clan was impaired vision. It only affected a select few of the Hyuuga's and Neji was one of those few. Instead of the dark brown that most of the clan had, Neji's eyes were a pale lilac. Although he was not blind, he did have trouble seeing everything clearly. However, he was still an outstanding doctor.

Neji tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. Sasuke couldn't help but appreciate how well Neji had grown up. As a child, Sasuke had first mistaken the Hyuuga as a girl. Neji had had very long brown hair, and a slightly girlish frame at the time, but he had grown a lot since then. He was now on par with Sasuke's height and had filled out quite nicely. His shoulders were broad, and his face had lost its baby fat. Neji's hair was still as long as ever, it being one of the only rebellious things he had ever achieved, but was now pulled back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck.

"Sasuke,"

"Neji," the two nodded in greeting and then turned back to the doors. Sasuke had already pushed the button for his floor, and Neji leant across to push his own. They watched as the small screen told of their ascend.

"You're looking rather rough this morning," Neji said with a small smirk. Sasuke growled.

"What's it to you?" he grumbled, scowling. Neji chuckled, quickly glancing at the man beside him.

"It's just obvious that you went out last night," Neji said smugly "Good thing you don't have clinic hours this morning,"

Sasuke had clinic hours every morning apart from on Wednesday's and weekends. He didn't work on the weekends and his clinic hours were in the evening on Wednesday.

"Well, even though you don't need to know, I didn't go out last night," Sasuke informed him, keeping his eyes trained on the changing numbers. Honestly, how long did it take to move up three floors? What was this, the stone age? Were there 20 men pulling ropes to get them to move up?

"Oh?" Neji quirked an eyebrow before smirking again "Have someone over?"

"Shut the fuck up, Neji," The elevator 'dinged' and Sasuke walked out of the opening doors as fast as he could, but not before he heard Neji's condescending chuckle.

He honestly hadn't had anyone over the night before, or gone out. Well, not for a drink at least. He'd gone to visit his Mother, Father and Brother. Was that such a bad thing?

"Ooh, looking rough this morning, Sasuke," He heard the familiar chirping voice of Sakura. Looking up, he was greeted with bright green eyes just inches away from him. He almost jumped in shock, but managed to compose himself in time. She giggled and grabbed his chin, tilting his head into the light so she could inspect him.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a frown.

"Well, you haven't been drinking," she concluded.

"How did you even figure that out?" he asked.

"Well, you didn't try to jerk away when I shoved your face into a bright light. If you'd been drinking, that would have intensified your hangover ten-fold," she explained with a smug smile. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow as if to say 'really?' Sakura chuckled "Nah, just kidding! You're an Uchiha! Uchiha's don't get drunk!" She laughed harder as Sasuke rolled his eyes and began heading to the locker room. Sakura grabbed his arm to stop him.

"What were you doing that's made you so tired, Sasuke?" She asked, a smile on her face, but concern in her eyes.

"Nothing, don't worry," he jerked out of her grip and walked calmly to the locker room.

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow, OW!" Uzumaki Naruto clutched his aching foot, and biting his lip to try and distract himself from the pain. Normally, Naruto only worked weekends as a nurse in paediatrics, but one of the weekday nurses was on maternity leave and Naruto had jumped at the chance to work weekdays. There weren't nearly enough hours for him at the weekend to pay for his apartment, and he was getting behind on his rent. However, this chance had come up at just the right time.

Sadly, his first week had not gone well so far.

On Monday, he had been extremely late and his excuse of 'Sorry, I overslept' hadn't gone well with the Chief of Medicine: Dr. Tsunade. Thankfully, the woman was a good friend of his Uncle Jiraiya's, and he'd been given the benefit of the doubt.

Yesterday, he'd had to deal with two very unsettled parents who had just been shouted out by some asshole called Dr. Uchiha. Naruto had yet to meet the man, but he was practically a saint on the 3rd floor. More than half of the kids on the ward that he tended to on the weekends only had good things to say about the man. Although all the adults he encountered told him that Dr. Uchiha was a broody and anti-social man; the kids liked and trusted him. Naruto trusted the kids: they weren't as opinionated.

That morning, Naruto had just made it to his locker when he managed to stub his toe very badly.

And that was where he was now.

"Son of a bit-"

"Please mind your language, there are children on this floor,"

The voice that spoke made Naruto's legs feel weak, like he wouldn't be able to stand. He looked up and was greeted with the most beautiful man he had ever seen.

His ebony hair was shorter in the back than the front, sticking up in an oddly enticing fashion, whilst the long bangs around his face framed him wonderfully. Contrastingly, gloriously pale skin covered the man, causing an almost angelic glow about him. It looked soft to the touch, and Naruto found himself with the urge to run his hands over ever expanse of skin he could reach. Lastly, the man's eyes…wow. Naruto had never seen such beautiful eyes before. Similarly to the man's hair, his eyes were a deep black: onyx, Naruto would say.

Even though the man was slightly rumpled and tired-looking, Naruto still found the man incredibly attractive.

On realizing that he was staring, Naruto looked away quickly, remembering that he was currently in immense pain. He grit his teeth and took off his shoe and sock, revealing his stubbed toe.

It wasn't too bad: more blood than anything else. It hurt like a bitch, but nothing was broken or anything. It just needed cleaning and resting.

"You should clean that," Naruto looked back up to see the back of the man that had just entered. The man slowly began changing his shirt, and Naruto only just managed to stop himself from drooling.

When the man didn't receive an answer from Naruto, he turned around and looked at Naruto with an elegantly raised eyebrow.

"What are you, an invalid?" The man asked with a small smirk.

Naruto continued to stare dumbly, clutching his toe. The ebony-haired man scowled.

"Are you brain-dead or something?"

Nothing.

"Oi, Dobe!" Anger flashed through Naruto's body.

"Hey! I am not a dobe!" He shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the gorgeous but incredibly rude man. At the outburst, said man smirked a little wider than before.

"I call them as I see them," he chuckled "Dobe,"

"SH-SHUT UP YOU….YOU….TEME!" Naruto screamed, standing up abruptly on his injured foot "OW! FU-" his mouth was covered by a very pale hand and Naruto couldn't decide whether he liked it, or wanted to bite it.

"What did I say about swearing?" The man said calmly before taking his hand away from Naruto's mouth "Now, hold still,"

At first, Naruto thought the man was planning on beating some sense into him, but when the doctor pulled out some anti-septic and bandages he calmed down and let him do his job.

Naruto didn't really notice the blush he got as the stranger cradled his foot in his lap and expertly fixed it; but did find himself enjoying the touch far too much. Had it really been that long since he'd had sex that he found bandaging a turn on?

"There you go," The man carefully set his foot down and stood, walking to his locker to put his lab coat on. Naruto watched in awe at his graceful movement. As the beautiful man turned to leave, Naruto felt that he couldn't let it happen.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, without really thinking about what he was going to say next. The man stopped and looked at him expectantly. Naruto panicked and blurted the first thing that came to his mind "What's your name?"

"Sasuke," the man said with his smirk in place "Uchiha Sasuke,"

"Thank you," Naruto said with a wide smile. Sasuke chuckled again.

"No problem, Dobe,"

"OI! I HAVE A NAME! It's Naruto!"

"Hn," Sasuke's smirk grew just that little bit, "I prefer 'Dobe'," and with that, Sasuke left the locker room and walked down the hall out of sight, leaving an angry, frustrated, in-pain and oddly horny blonde behind.

* * *

'_Christ, Uchiha, don't stumble, don't even think about stumbling!' _Sasuke thought to himself intensely as he left that beautiful blonde man behind him.

'_My legs, dammit, my legs! I can't feel my legs!' _ Was this how meeting new people was supposed to feel like? Because, if it was, he was glad he was such a recluse. Surely no friendship was worth this kind of reaction?

Seeing the nurse's station up ahead, he hurried to the counter, resting his elbows on the hard surface and looking out for Sakura. Thankfully, the Gods must have decided he had done something right.

"Sasuke, what are you doing out here? Your shift doesn't start for another 20 minutes…" the pink-haired nurse asked from behind the desk, having appeared from under it about 12 seconds before.

"…What were you doing under the desk?" He asked, momentarily forgetting the fact that his legs felt weak and his heart was racing. Was he having a stroke?

"I dropped some charts," Sakura chuckled, leaning onto the counter herself, just inches away from Sasuke's face "Your turn,"

"Hn," Sasuke pushed her head out of his space with one finger. Sakura giggled before she sat down in a chair and began to listen "New guy. In the locker room," at this point, a very _very_ light blush dusted his cheeks. Sakura squealed loudly.

"You _finally _met the new nurse? Well! What do you think? Isn't he so gorgeous?" Sakura began ranting about how wonderful the murse was while Sasuke started to think back on their encounter.

His hair had been so obnoxiously blinding that, at first, he had been planning on shaving the idiot's head while he was sleeping. But…then he looked up.

Eyes, a deep azure, gazed back at him in wonder, sending shivers down his spine. They were the most beautiful and captivating eyes Sasuke had ever seen. They were literally like windows to the man's soul. Every emotion flashed through them, and it was obvious: pain, joy, surprise, sadness and lust…all in the space of about 2 seconds.

"...to make you two go on a date or something! It'd be so cute! I'm going to find out if he's into you as well!"

During his wonderful daydream, Sasuke had completely forgotten about Sakura. Now, when left to her own devices without interruption, Sakura always manages to begin planning some kind of hair-brained scheme, which usually involved him and a 'date'. Well, that had not worked out in the past.

After assuming that a man was gay (when he really wasn't), she had decided to trick Sasuke into going to a restaurant with her, only to run home sick as soon as they walked through the door. Seeing as he was out already, Sasuke decided he might as well stay, but there was someone else at his table.

Neji.

Yeah, that had definitely not gone well…

"No," he said sternly, causing Sakura to stop mid-plan and look at him, horrified.

"What do you mean, 'no'? You obviously like him, Uchiha! Give him a chance!" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I never said I wouldn't. I just don't want you planning it, you manipulative bitch," he growled. Sakura laughed and patted his head. What was she, bi-polar?

"Okay, Sasuke-cakes," she laughed harder as she dodged his punch "Well, you'd better get going. Rounds start soon," she explained in a sing-song voice and giggled happily as he cursed and ran to the patient floor.

Just as the raven ran out of sight, Naruto appeared from the opposite corner with a slight limp. Sakura's eyes went wide.

"Naruto-kun," she said in a far more polite tone than she ever used with Sasuke "Are you alright? Why are you limping?"

Sakura was pretty sure Naruto was gay…he'd never made an advance on any of the other nurses here, or so much as looked at them. However, she did sometimes catch him watching the male doctors, though it could have just been through admiration. Being the only male nurse, she couldn't be sure if he just treated everyone like he did at the nurse's station. Still, she assumed he was (having not learnt her lessons from that previous instant) and thought, maybe, his limp may have been because of a…'boyfriend'. The thought made her blush a little.

"Huh?" Naruto seemed pretty dazed. The blonde shook his head to clear his thoughts before smiling at Sakura brightly "Oh, good morning, Sakura-chan. It's really nothing, I just stubbed my toe, is all,"

"Oh good," She grinned back and handed him a chart "Shin Kishimoto, bed 4. He just needs his dressing re-done, would you handle that for me?"

Sakura was the head nurse on the 3rd floor, meaning she was given all of the charts and spent most of her time organizing them. She didn't get to do much patient care anymore, and she missed it, but she also enjoyed being the boss.

"Of course," Naruto smiled and went to leave, but Sakura grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"So you met Sasuke?" She grinned. Naruto swallowed hard, trying and failing to fight the blush that was now all over his face.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing awkwardly. Sakura bit her lip, looking far too excited for her own good.

"Oh my Gosh, you _like_ him?" She screamed far too loudly. Her far too pink hair was starting to make Naruto feel far too dizzy.

"Umm, I…"

"Don't answer that. Drop that chart. Come with me," Sasuke's smooth velvety voice sounded behind him, but Naruto didn't even get a chance to turn around before he was grabbed and dragged away, too surprised to even think about complaining just yet.

Sakura watched them leave with a triumphant smile. Oh yes, they were _so_ into each other.

* * *

"H-Hey! Teme! What the hell are you doing? I have to work!" Naruto finally came to his senses as the two of them turned the corner and out of sight. The blonde wrenched his arm from the Uchiha's grip and began to head in the opposite direction, only to have a hand land on his shoulder and stop him.

"Teme! Jeez! I've only known you for 10 minutes and I already want to kill…"

"Go out with me,"

"…I'm sorry…what?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on the blonde's shoulders. Naruto was utterly shocked, unable to really think and give the Uchiha a proper response.

"I said, go out with me," Sasuke repeated, appearing calm and collected, but his inner self was throwing a fit.

Now, seeing as Naruto was not only shocked, but also found that his brain and mouth became disconnected when he was around Sasuke; he became a bumbling idiot.

"Huhhnnnnumm?" Wow, that wasn't even slightly a word. Naruto decided that now would be a really good time for a zombie apocalypse…something that extreme might stand a chance at distracting Sasuke while he ran away and punched himself for being an idiot.

"Dobe, think about it," Sasuke removed his hands from Naruto's shoulders, taking a pen from his pocket and taking Naruto's hand, scrawling his digits onto a tan palm. He let his hand linger after he was done, amazed at how soft Naruto's skin was "Call me, soon,"

With that, Sasuke left to tend to his patients and Naruto stood dumbstruck for the second time that day.

This really wasn't his week.

* * *

Sasuke pulled his pretty little iPhone from his pocket, checking the screen and noticing he had no missed calls or texts. Sighing, he placed it back, on silent, and picked up the next chart, briefly scanning for a name and gender.

_Name: _Akiko Sakurai

_Gender: _Female

Great.

It was nearing 7:30pm, and Sasuke was off work at 8:00pm. He'd been working for nearly 9 hours, and was sure that was breaching some kind of law. He hoped he wouldn't be held responsible for being even crabbier that he usually was. Then again, he shouldn't complain, he was the one who took this shift.

This Wednesday would be his last covering for a doctor who had been working in Russia for the past 3 months and would be returning the following week. He was going to miss the extra time; he often found that his apartment was too quiet and, even if he didn't like to talk to them, he liked to be around people.

Sakura had finished her shift around 3:30pm, having dragged him to the cafeteria before she left and made sure he'd eaten a good lunch. Sasuke didn't know when Naruto finished work, and he didn't want to go and look it up in case someone caught him acting like some kind of stalker, but even if he hadn't finished his shift, he would have had time to at least text him by now. Maybe the blonde just didn't like him…

Well fuck that. He was an Uchiha and if an Uchiha wants to fuck someone, he does it! Sasuke was hornier than a teenager filming his own porno and he wanted a good lay. If Naruto didn't want to sleep with him, then tough shit! He had no choice!

…Who was he kidding? After seeing those beautiful eyes, Sasuke knew he'd never be able to hurt the little guy. He was so young and pure, it would be sinful to do something so horrible. Sasuke just didn't have the guts.

Feeling exceptionally irritable, Sasuke walked into Exam room two and dealt with his patient.

* * *

Naruto scribbled over the digits on his hand once more, hoping upon hope that his hands didn't get sweaty and it rubbed off. He would write it on a piece of paper, but he just knew he would lose it: just like his cell phone.

"Dammit," he cursed again, ruing the day he'd ever thought to put his cell in some ridiculous place. The one time he really needed it, and he didn't know where it was. Typical.

Naruto had taken a one-off long-term Wednesday shift that week, meaning he'd be working until 8:00pm. This was great for him, meaning he'd have extra money for groceries that week, and he got to hang out with the kids just a little bit longer. It wasn't that he was dirt poor or anything, he honestly wasn't. He had a nice apartment, more than enough for just one man, decorated to his desires, he managed to pay his bills on time every month and he had all the necessary things to sustain life. So he lived off instant ramen most of the time? What of it? It didn't matter, this week he would be able to buy some fresh food and have a good week or two of home-cooked food.

His break was just about over, and he had finished his coffee, so he began to head to the paediatrics ward.

"Clear the hall! Make way! Coming through!" Naruto jumped out of the way just in time to see a gurney flying past him, being pushed by several medical staff, and one doctor on the bed with the patient. Knowing he wasn't needed anywhere else, Naruto instinctively ran after them.

"What's going on?" He asked one of the nurses pushing the bed before grabbing a corner and putting all of his strength into helping. She nodded her appreciation at not having to work as hard.

"Female, 12 years old, came to the clinic with her mother before suffering from respiratory troubles. We've brought her up here for intubation,(1)" The nurse explained, turning the gurney around a corner and into a room.

"I'm in!" Naruto suddenly realised that the doctor who had been attempting to intubate whilst moving was, in fact, Sasuke. Also, he noticed a rather distraught woman on the other side of the door, most likely the girl's mother. And he managed all of this while also attaching an air pump to the end of the tube and beginning to get her to breathe again. This continued for a few minutes.

"She's stable," Sasuke's voice was clear among the hushed murmurs and worried tones around him. Naruto nodded, and the other nurses soon sorted the girl out. Naruto wiped his sweaty brow.

"What the hell happened?" He panted, looking up at the Uchiha (begrudgingly) and nearly cursed when he saw how calm and composed the man was. How did he do that? Recover so quickly? He was almost panicking just minutes before…

"She was in the clinic with her mother, saying that just hours before she had lost consciousness. She looked kind of woozy and I was going to just suggest she rest, but then she went into anaphylactic shock and I had to get her up here," Sasuke explained, running a hand through his hair.

"Naruto, I have no idea why this has happened. I need you to help me with this one, will you?" Sasuke asked the unsuspecting blonde who just nodded in response. "Okay, good. Get me a full medical history, as soon as you can,"

"Okay, I'll go talk to the mother,"

"Good, when do you get off work?"

"8pm, why?"

"Meet me at the front entrance. We're going out for coffee," Sasuke nodded and walked away briskly, probably to tell Dr. Tsunade that he had a new patient and would have to cut down on clinic hours.

Again, Naruto just stood there in shock before cursing the teme and his stupidly good separation techniques. He looked out of the door and saw the mother, tears in her eyes. Taking in a deep breath, he prepared himself to tell her that they had absolutely no idea what was wrong with her daughter.

An excellent first week indeed.

* * *

(1)Let me just explain to you all now, but I have absolutely no idea how medical things work…I'm awful at both biology and chemistry, and hospitals scare me. Real ones. Fake ones I can handle. I'll just let you all know in advance that I get most of my 'knowledge' from TV shows…haha ^^;

Phew! Sorry about the long wait, guys! But this was actually kind of fast for me. 6th form is sooo hard! Darn those A levels…darn them to heck. Serves me right for wanting to go to Uni I suppose…anyway! I hope you enjoyed it! I've managed to get myself this ridiculous little cold, but it's kept me off of school for a day, so I don't hate it that much. And it meant I could work on this a little more (and I do mean a little).

Right, I'm pretty sure I know where this story is going…but then again, I might not. So if you have any ideas or pairings or anything you want in this story, just leave a review telling me and I'll see what I can do!

Awesome! 3


	3. Chapter 2

_Ehehehhh…._

_OKAY. BEFORE YOU SHOOT!_

_So, I've been so freakin' busy this past year (OH GOOD GOD HAS IT BEEN A YEAR ALREADY?), mostly with school._

_I'm not gonna lie: I went into 6th form thinking 'HEH. I'm a genius. They're lucky to have me there!'_  
_I was so wrong. So goddamn wrong._

_It's been the hardest year of my life: I'm not kidding. I've had barely any free time. It's only now, after exams, that I'm able to find the time to work on my poor neglected fanfiction…_

_Also: I've completely lost interest in the story of Naruto. NOW. DON'T HURT ME. I tried to write fanfictions for other anime's (like kuroshitsuji and hetalia) but found that I just couldn't write as well for them as I could for Naruto. Bonus for you all: I WILL finish this story! I do, however, want to try writing for other anime's too sometime. That would be fun._

_LASTLY: I'm looking for a beta reader: but I want a special one! I want someone who's willing to add me on either skype or msn who can not only read through my work and fix it, but give me a kick in the pants if I need it. If you're up for the job, let me know!_

_ONWARDS!_

* * *

After a painstakingly long and brutally in-depth questioning of the mother, and about 12 minutes asking several other nurses to look up patient charts, Naruto had a pretty good medical history for the patient.

He sighed and pulled his hand through his now-limp blonde hair, wincing as he finger-combed through the tangles. Heading to the nurse's station, he placed Hotaru's chart on the side and gratefully thanked the nurse who filed it away properly for him. Another sigh escaped him and it dawned on him just how tired he was.

He could definitely go for a coffee.

* * *

8:02pm.

Normally, Sasuke didn't care whether people were on time or not: but this was a new matter entirely.

Okay, that was just a lie outright. Punctuality was very important to him at all times – but especially tonight. He couldn't quite explain what he felt when he was in Naruto's presence. He found himself wanting to _know _things about the man, and he wanted to _share_ things with him. It was understandable that Sakura had imagined he'd like him.

Naruto was gorgeous; there was no doubting that. But he was also stupid. Not in an academic way – but a _life_ way. It was like he was a kid stuck in an adult's body. The thing was, it was actually kind of _endearing._

8:04pm.

He decided he would wait until ten past, and if Naruto still wasn't there, he'd just go home. Standing outside in the cold was annoying.

"Ah! Teme!" Sasuke turned to face the entrance and was greeted by Naruto's grinning face and frantically waving hand as the man jogged happily over to him.

"You're late," Sasuke mumbled indifferently. He didn't miss the slight twitch of annoyance from Naruto's eyebrow.

"Yeah, sorry about that I decided to have a shower," he replied, gesturing to his hair. Confused by this gesture, Sasuke frowned and Naruto rolled his eyes before grabbing Sasuke's hand and putting it on his head. Sasuke felt the cold dampness of the hair before he pulled his hand away.

"It's winter, dobe. You could catch a cold or something," Naruto giggled at that, but Sasuke couldn't think of any part in that sentence that was even remotely funny.

"Well, where are you taking me?" Naruto grinned and reached for Sasuke's hand, but Sasuke snatched it away, glaring.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he grunted.

"Umm…holding your hand, silly!" Naruto laughed uncomfortably "Wait…this is a date, right?" at this, he blushed, hoping that he hadn't mistaken this invitation for something more than it was…he had been sure that the raven-haired doctor had been flirting with him earlier…in his own twisted way.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sasuke scoffed "This isn't a date."

At that, Naruto frowned and folded his arms, willing the cold of the air to go away.

"Well then, what is this?" He was getting kind of angry, feeling like he'd been totally led on.

Sasuke shifted awkwardly, refusing to make eye contact. Naruto's anger ebbed away slightly, feeling a sense of endearment for the other man for that brief moment.

"It's just…a meeting between colleagues." He said, finally. Naruto smiled a little bit, noticing that Sasuke was feeling very discomforted. He couldn't think why that was, but perhaps he'd find out during coffee.

"Fair enough," he smiled and began to walk, gesturing that Sasuke should follow "let's go them teme,"

Sasuke chuckled.

"You're going the wrong way, dobe,"

"Coffee. Black."

"Oh, wow, real adventurous, teme."

"…soda for him."

"SODA? It's, like, minus a million degrees out! I'll be frozen!"

"Okay, hot chocolate for him,"

"…"

"Any complaints?"

"…"

"Good."

The two hospital employees picked up their drinks and walked to a table for two, sitting down in sync. Sasuke was mildly impressed by the symmetry of the situation, but tried not to seem too excited by it.

Naruto shivered a little bit and leant over his drink, blowing the steam away in the hopes of cooling it slightly. He was pretty damn cold, but nothing was worth burning his tongue for.

"Why did you come with me?" Sasuke suddenly asked, surprising Naruto quite substantially.

"Uhh," Naruto tried his best think of a reason other than 'because I wanted to get to know you' or 'because you're smoking hot and I want you to tap this'. He managed to come up with: "Well, you invited me. It would be rude to turn down such an offer," with a gentle smile afterwards, hoping that would be sufficient.

"Hn," Sasuke replied with his classic monosyllable answer to everything. The noise was actually starting to sound quite _cute_ (for lack of a better word) to Naruto.

"Why do you ask?" Naruto asked pleasantly "Were you scared I was just trying to get into your pants?" He laughed and winked, making Sasuke feel ever so slightly 'freaked'.

"…Are you coming on to me?" He asked seriously, holding his coffee mug tightly.

"What if I am?" Naruto deepened his voice to a certain degree, but, rather than eliciting a pleasant shiver, or perhaps a sexy moan from the Uchiha – he simply received a smirk.

"Then you're not going a very good job of it," that condescending, yet beautiful, smirk stretched across his mouth and his voice dropped to a husky whisper. It was Naruto who let out a small whimper. Sasuke laughed lowly, causing Naruto to blush quite red.

"Fucking teme," he grumbled, staring down at his drink. He smiled down at the whipped cream atop his hot chocolate and gently sucked a little bit into his mouth.

"What did I tell you about swear…ing…" Sasuke drifted off at the end of his sentence, unable to concentrate while Naruto was doing _that._ Hot damn, did this dobe know how sexy he was? It should be a crime not to know.

"Shut up, I do what I want," Naruto laughed and stuck his tongue out playfully, causing Sasuke to grimace at how childish the other man was being.

There was a fairly long silence after that.

"Are you _gay?_"

Sasuke promptly chocked on his coffee and proceeded to cough for a considerable amount of time afterwards.

"Haha, sorry, I didn't mean to kill you," The blonde idiot just laughed as if he hadn't questioned a man's sexuality.

Sasuke growled from the back of his throat and narrowed his eyes as he wiped the coffee dripping from his lips.

"For your information," he replied, after composing himself and settling his hands around his coffee so they weren't tempted to choke people "I am gay, yes."

"Awesome" Naruto smiled for a while "Oh wait, did I say that out loud?"

"…Yeah, you did."

"Well…shit…haha" Naruto laughed and a light blush dusted his cheeks. Sasuke smirked in reply.

The silence fell again, this time intensified by the fact that the couple that had recently arrived and sat next to them was having a very loud conversation.

"I just don't feel like you get me, babe,"

"What is there to get? All you do is play video games all day!"

"HEY. I work hard to put food on the table and pay our rent: what the hell do you do?"

"Well I don't go wasting my money and time on 'Duty Calls' or whatever the hell it is,"

"No, of course not! You just spend _my_ money!"

"That's not fair at all! I only spend what I need!"

"So you needed to buy a freakin' limited edition Gucci bag?"

"How do you even know what the hell that is? What kind of man are you, Gerald?"

"I'm the kind that looks at his credit card bill, Claudia,"

"…God, shut up," Before then, Sasuke had simply been glancing at the couple with an irritable look in his eye, hoping to catch their attention with that and failing. He hadn't noticed the way Naruto's fingers had clenched so tightly around his mug that his knuckles had gone white. He also hadn't seen how he had turned away from the couple, frowning. In fact, Sasuke hadn't been paying any attention to the blonde until he said those words.

"…uh…what?" Sasuke asked eloquently.

"Excuse me?" An angry woman's voice sounded loudly throughout the café signaling that, apparently, Naruto had not uttered that quietly enough.

Naruto stayed silent and turned his head to his hands, not making eye contact with anyone, not even Sasuke.

"Yeah man, do you have a problem or something?" The man chimed in behind his girlfriend, obviously irritated.

Naruto continued to say nothing, keeping his head down.

"We're talking to you, blondie!" The woman shouted, her hand now firmly clasped around the man's. It seemed as if they'd found a common interest: arguing with whomever they came across.

"Yeah, kid! You gonna talk or what?" The man was now out of his chair and stood directly behind Naruto, looking quite angry.

Naruto remained still and Sasuke was beginning to worry a little. The café had gone completely silent: one could hear a pin drop.

"Your friend retarded or something?" The woman asked Sasuke who looked up, shocked for a moment, before those words sank in.

"No," he said, folding his arms on the table in front of him "He's not".

The silence stretched out for a little longer before the man, Gerald, suddenly grabbed Naruto's shoulder and pulled him backwards. Naruto, without meaning to, held on to his drink and, as he fell, sent it flying backwards. The mug hit Gerald in the chest, and the contents of it poured onto Naruto's face just before he hit the ground with a thud. The mug also obeyed gravity and fell too, shattering inches away from the blonde's head.

"The fuck? You did that on purpose you little brat!" The man shouted, raising an arm as if to hit the guy while his was down, but found that something or, rather, someone was restraining him.

"I'd leave if I were you," Sasuke growled, tightening his grip on the man, who ground his teeth as he glared back.

"And what if I don't?" he snarled. Sasuke kept a passive face before twisting the man's arm behind his back, careful not to cause too much injury, but a sufficient amount of pain. The man cried out in pain, his girlfriend clasping a hand to her mouth.

"Alright! Crap! I give! Let me go! We'll leave!" The man gasped as Sasuke pulled a little harder on the appendage.

"Gerald! You're such a pansy sometimes!" the woman shouted, storming off angrily to the door. Sasuke loosened his grip and the man ran after her calling: "Claudia! Darling! I'm sorry, okay?"

Neither turned back to apologise to Naruto.

Sasuke rushed to Naruto quickly, seeing the young man lying on the floor with his hands over his face.

"Naruto, are you all right?" he asked, glancing over Naruto's body to check for injury. The chair had fallen with him and he had landed on top of it before apparently rolling off to cause himself less pain. The only reply he got to the question was a slight nod.

"Let me see your face" Sasuke ordered, placing his own hands gently over Naruto's. He pulled at them carefully and revealed Naruto's face.

He had a small burn stretching from his left cheek to his left ear where the drink had fallen on him, and a small open gash above his right eye where the china of the mug had pierced his skin. A thin trickle of blood travelled up his forehead and disappeared into his hair. Sasuke felt his own blood boil and a feeling of regret that he hadn't broken that dick's arm filled him.

"Sir, are you two alright?" a timid voice spoke behind him. The question was followed by a gasp as she saw Naruto's state, but before she could make a fuss, Sasuke replied.

"We're fine,"

"B-But sir!"

"Don't worry," he said, turning to her with a small smile "I'm a doctor,"

With that, he scooped Naruto up into his arms and carried him out of the shop, ignoring the blonde's blushing protests as he squirmed to free himself.

* * *

_Well, I know it wasn't worth the wait…but at least I wrote SOMETHING, right?_

_I have such a kink for strong Sasuke and Damsel in Distress Naruto. It's weird._

_Well, please review! I'd appreciate any feedback…this could very well be a lost cause. I never do know._

_And remember! If you think you could be that special beta reader for me, let me know! You can tell me in a review or a personal message and I will get back to you as soon as I can!_

_Thanks for not killing me 8D_


	4. Chapter 3

Sasuke hurried the blonde back to the hospital, knowing that the injuries were only minor, but still wanting them to be treated well and efficiently as quickly as possible. Naruto was shouting at him to put him down because he wasn't brain dead and could walk just fine, but Sasuke ignored him. He carried his blonde companion into the clinic, flashing his nametag at the nurse station (not that he really needed to, since they recognized him immediately), and dashed into an unused room.

Setting Naruto down on the bench, Sasuke soon went about finding things to treat him with. Within seconds, he was at Naruto's side with antiseptic, bandages, cream and painkillers. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You know, I can do this myself," he said grumpily as Sasuke pulled on some thin blue latex gloves.

"Don't be stupid. You're far too clumsy," Sasuke replied with a small smirk, but his eyes were focused entirely on Naruto's wound. Blood had begun to trickle past his eyebrow and was slowly dripping closer to the blonde's bright blue eye. Sensing this himself, Naruto clenched it shut.

"Teme," he muttered under his breath, but didn't say anything else, as he didn't want to distract the other man any more than was needed…not that it was really needed at all.

Carefully wiping up the trail of blood with a balled up piece of cotton doused in antiseptic, Sasuke recalled that he had never been this gentle towards a patient over 17 before. He supposed it was likely because Naruto acted like a 4-year-old and should be treated as such.

He patched Naruto up rather quickly, deciding that the wound above his eye didn't need stitches and placed the bandage over it instead. The minor burn was a little tricky in the sense that it couldn't really be protected as well as the gash, but Sasuke had used a cream with a cooling agent and anti-inflammatory (1) which he knew was the best he could do.

There was a long silence while Sasuke tidied up, then sat on a stool, turned to face Naruto, and stared at him with his arms folded. Naruto skillfully avoided his gaze.

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke after a while. Naruto flinched as if he'd been expecting it "Why didn't you fight back?"

The silence stretched out again and Sasuke found himself wondering why he'd asked the question. He'd known the dobe for a day. It was a very personal question to ask, and he thought he might have stepped over the boundary. However, Naruto spoke.

"I don't like fighting when it's not needed," he said quietly, but sternly. It was a tone of voice that Sasuke found was similar to his own when he spoke to most people: cold and unfeeling. It didn't suit the vibrant guy.

"It looked like it was bloody needed just now," Sasuke grumbled "If I hadn't stopped that guy…" he trailed off, seeing Naruto's hands clench.

"I don't prioritize my own safety," the blonde said, still avoiding eye contact. Sasuke glared at him.

"You should!" he heard himself raising his voice and, again, wondered why he was so adamant on this issue.

"Well I don't!" Naruto shouted back, finally looking right into Sasuke's eyes. The brunette was shocked to see such an explosively angry expression on Naruto's face.

Sasuke looked away this time, ashamed that he'd worked the guy up so much after a head injury.

"You don't know anything!" The blonde shouted, "Why should I matter when there are other people to protect? What's the point in saving yourself when you can save others, huh? Violence should never be the answer to anything! No one should get hurt at my expense! Never again!"

Sasuke felt a large pang of guilt strike in his stomach, but ignored it. Naruto's eyes were brimming with tears and he just wanted to slap himself for causing them. He had been working with Naruto for one day – one day! – and he'd already ballsed up any relationship he could have hoped that they would have.

"It's late," he said quietly "it would be wise to get home, I think,"

Naruto wiped at his face furiously, but nodded all the same. The silence was very awkward and heavy.

"I will take you home," Sasuke said, without really thinking, "You have a head injury,"

Naruto, too tired to argue, nodded again, and let Sasuke lead him to his car.

They both left the hospital feeling that that day could have gone a lot better.

* * *

"Come back here!"

"Only if you can catch me, un!"

"Please stop running around! Dr. Uchiha will be here soon to-"

"NEVER, UN!"

When Naruto arrived at work the next morning, he headed past one particular room in pediatrics that he noticed other nurses usually gave a wide birth. As he passed, he heard this exchange followed by a small blonde girl running right into his leg. He chuckled lightly and helped the girl to her feet, brushing her down. The girl looked up at him with one bright blue eye, so similar to his own, and the other was covered with an eye patch.

"Deidara! Be careful!" a young nurse was right at the girl's heels. When she saw Naruto, her cheeks colored a pretty shade of pink. Naruto smiled.

"Don't worry, I've got this one," and he then picked the child up and carried her into the room, the nurse watching on in awe as Deidara didn't struggle.

"Well then, you little trouble maker, which bed is yours?" Naruto asked, looking around the room and finding only one empty bed. He began to head for it, but Deidara pulled on his shirt.

"That one," the kid pointed to a bed that was already occupied, opposite the empty bed. If Naruto guessed, he would say that Deidara was around 6 years old. The child in the bed looked a little younger, probably 5. He had bright red hair, pale skin and he was sleeping soundly.

"Well, someone's in that bed, kid," Naruto replied with an apologetic look. Deidara glared at him.

"I can see that, un," she said grumpily "I wanna go there anyway. Put me down, un,"

Naruto's eyes widened a little in surprise before he smiled kindly.

"Okay, sure," he said and carried Deidara to the occupied bed. The child looked rather shocked that she was being listened to and then beamed brightly at him. Naruto sat the girl down in the chair beside the bed and she immediately clasped the boy's hand. Naruto chuckled lightly. It wasn't surprising for kids having long stays to start to feel attached to others in similar situations. It also wasn't uncommon for childish love to occur.

Without really thinking about it, he picked up the chart of the boy on the bed. Scanning it, he saw that the kid was actually 6, not 5. But hey, he'd been close. His name was Sasori and he had had a leg amputated. Naruto winced slightly on reading that, knowing that the poor kid was going to have to have an artificial leg.

"Is he your friend?" Naruto asked the young girl pleasantly. She turned to him, smiling brightly.

"He's my boyfriend, un!" She exclaimed happily. Naruto chuckled.

"Well, he sure is lucky to have a cute girlfriend like you," Naruto smiled and buried a hand in the girl's soft blonde hair. Suddenly, her face fell.

"I'm a BOY, un!" Deidara rose to his feet and glared at Naruto angrily. Naruto was shocked for a split second before he recovered himself and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, did I say girlfriend? I did mean to say boyfriend," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, hoping the child would buy that.

"Oh," The boy seemed appeased and he smiled and sat down again. Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, Deidara was it?" The boy nodded energetically "I've got to go and get changed, but I'll be back to come and see you, how does that sound?"

"Okay, un!" He looked truly happy. Naruto figured that Deidara might be a little too excitable for most of the other nurses to handle: but he reminded Naruto a lot of himself as a child.

"Good," they exchanged almost identical grins and then Naruto left the room, the nurse from before watching him with an astonished expression. Behind the cover of his hand, he smiled smugly.

Carrying on his way to the staff room to get changed into his scrubs, Naruto gently ran a hand over his perfectly bandaged forehead. He hated to admit it, but the bastard had patched him up really nicely. Thinking back to the incident, he was really sorry that he'd snapped at Sasuke. They had actually been getting along kind of well until then…

He reached the staff room and pulled on his bright orange scrubs before looking in the mirror and trying to hide the bandage with his unruly blonde hair. It didn't really work, so he just shrugged it off and left towards the 3rd floor desk.

"Naruto! What happened to your head?" Sakura asked when he had reached her side. "Sasuke wasn't too rough was he?" she smiled coyly and Naruto blushed.

"Sakura-chan! I only met him yesterday! What kind of guy do you think I am!" he frowned at her, but then saw the humor in her eyes.

"Oh, I was just kidding! What _did_ happen though?" she smiled, but he could see the genuine concern in her eyes. It was a nice thing to experience.

"Just some accident at the coffee shop that Sasuke and I went to last night. Nothing big, I just said something I shouldn't have…got into a bit of trouble. But don't look so worried! Sasuke patched me up real nice, drove me home too!" he grinned at her, but she was frowning. "What?" he asked.

"Sasuke drove you home?"

"Yeah! He's got such a nice car! It smelt like it was new and everything,"

"Sasuke never drives people home. You must have had a stupidly bad concussion or something," Sakura observed.

"Hmm, not really. I mean, I had a bit of a headache, but nothing serious," Naruto shrugged "Besides: it sure beat the bus!" he laughed, but his laughter died out when a grin stretched across the pink-haired woman's face.

"Sasuke _likes _you!" she exclaimed, a little bit too loudly for his liking. Naruto blushed and shushed her.

"Sakura! We're in public!" he hissed "And no, he doesn't…I was a bit of a dick to him last night…" he looked away, ashamed with himself.

"Pfft, serves him right," she chuckled at Naruto's horrified expression "If you could see the way he treats everyone else here, you'd think it too!" she said in defense.

Naruto looked at her skeptically and was about to retort in Sasuke's defense when, speak of the devil, he walked around the corner.

Without thinking, Naruto acted.

"Sasuke!" He called, getting the man's attention and walking over to him. Sasuke looked kind of stressed out, his hair a little unruly and his face paler than yesterday.

"There you are," he mumbled "I was worried." Naruto's cheeks reddened.

"Um…thank you…for everything yesterday…I'm sorry about the way I behaved," Naruto avoided eye contact with the raven-haired man, who was smiling gently down at the blonde. Sakura, from her spot at the desk, was watching the scene with a bright grin.

"That's alright," Sasuke responded, "I'm sorry that I offended you,"

"You don't need to apologise…" Naruto was speaking to the floor, and Sasuke didn't like that. He took Naruto's chin in his hand and lifted the blonde's head upwards, to meet his own gaze. Naruto felt his knees go weak when cobalt eyes met intense obsidian.

"Sorry to break it up, boys, you honestly have no idea how sorry I am. But you," Sakura thrust a chart into Sasuke's chest "need to get some work done. This is the patient history Naruto worked up yesterday. Get cracking!" She slapped Sasuke hard on the back and he growled at her.

The intense moment between Naruto and Sasuke had dissipated the moment she had spoken, Sasuke's hand falling from Naruto's flushed face, and their gaze breaking.

"When do you get off today?" Naruto asked.

"6:00pm today, why?" Sasuke replied.

"Meet me in the changing rooms then," Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction. Considering the blonde's loud and strong nature, he wasn't necessarily surprised that Naruto would take the initiative and ask _him_ out…but he had thought for sure that he'd fucked everything up the night before. He nodded to Naruto who smiled angelically back at him before joining Sakura at the desk.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, clutching the chunky folder in his hand. Naruto had put a lot of work into it… Sasuke shook his head and headed toward the young girl's room from yesterday.

* * *

"Naru! Naru! Play with _me, _un!" Deidara whined, pulling on the bright orange leg of Naruto's scrubs.

"No, Naruto-san! Play with me! Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi, the youngest child in that particular room, tugged on his other pant leg, and Naruto hung on tightly to his waistband to stop the things from falling down. He blushed a little when he heard a few of the nurses outside giggling at him.

"C'mon guys! We can all hang out together! How does that sound?" Tobi nodded enthusiastically, but Deidara pouted, his blue eyes staring up at Naruto defiantly. Naruto sighed.

"Come on," he took both Deidara's and Tobi's hands and walked over to Sasori's bedside, lifting Deidara up to sit on the bed with Sasori before pulling Tobi into his own lap and picking up a book from the nearby table.

The room went surprisingly quiet.

"Do you all want to listen?" he aimed his question at the others in the room, who all gathered around, sitting patiently and waiting for him to read. One of the kids, Hidan, had tourettes, so he kept swearing under his breath, but apart from that, the room was quite silent. Naruto assumed this must be a treat for the kids.

Naruto had been assigned to this room for the day, to keep this lot out of trouble. The nurse before had been so impressed with how he'd handled Deidara that morning that she'd requested he help out there for the day. To be honest, it hadn't felt like being a nurse, more like a babysitter; but who was he to complain? These kids were a blast!

Deidara and Sasori, the two kids he's encountered that morning, were going out. Naruto thought it was the cutest damn thing ever, even though they probably had no idea that their relationship was a gay one. Naruto loved the innocence in children, being able to do whatever they feel is right.

Tobi, an excitable kid with a fantastically improbable eye cancer, had short spiky black hair and a permanent smile on his face. He'd lost one eye a few weeks before, and had to wear an eye patch. He tagged along with Deidara a lot, but the blonde tended to ignore Tobi.

Hidan had tourettes along with hemophilia, which meant he wasn't supposed to move around much. That didn't stop him, though. He was very careful, mind. He hadn't been injured at all so far that day, which was a good sign. The other kids seemed to understand this need for his safety too. They looked out for him, which was so cute.

Zetsu was a strange kid. Really liked plants. He had Sickle Cell Disease, and mainly kept to himself. Zetsu talked to himself a lot too, which was odd of course, but also slightly endearing in a way. Naruto found it very difficult to be freaked out by any child. They were just so adorable.

Having been with them for the whole day, he'd learnt that they had been put in the same room because they were all orphans. On hearing that, Naruto felt a sting of pain in his heart, knowing exactly how the kids must be feeling. He had thought it was a little strange that they had been put in the same room for that reason, however. That wasn't normally how things were done…

Naruto read the book to them called 'Daddy, Papa and Me' which was a cute story about a gay couple and their adopted child. The kids seemed to enjoy it, however, and that made the blonde feel really good. He loved how uncorrupted children were.

"Naruto," the low, dead-sexy voice of Sasuke sounded from the door. Thankfully, Naruto had just finished the story, so he wouldn't have to cut it short.

"Sorry, Tobi, you're going to have to get down,"

"But I've been a good boy…?" Tobi looked up at Naruto with big brown eyes and Naruto's heart wrenched. He looked pleadingly up at Sasuke who rolled his eyes and gestured for Naruto to leave. When the blonde looked away, Sasuke chuckled softly.

"You've been the _best_ boy, Tobi!" Naruto grinned, lifting Tobi up as he stood up and resting the boy on his hip. Deidara frowned.

"That's not true, un! I've been the best boy!" he pouted.

"Yeah! Fuck! He's right! Crumpets!" (2) Hidan chimed in, shaking his fist at Naruto.

Sasori and Zetsu stayed silent, but their attention was glued to Naruto who just smiled wider.

"You've all been the best," he said "but I'm afraid that Dr. Uchiha needs to see me, so I have to leave," he ignored Sasuke's smirk at the use of 'Dr. Uchiha'.

"NO," Tobi said defiantly, holding on tightly to Naruto's arm.

"Sorry, Tobi, I'll come back real soon!"

"Not an option, un!" Deidara shouted from the floor, having crawled down there without Naruto noticing and resuming his position at Naruto's leg, clutching to the scrubs. Naruto shot a look to Sasuke that clearly screamed: _Help me, for God's sake! Help!_

"Sorry, kids," Sasuke said with a small smile and a compassionate look in his eye that Naruto found brought color to his cheeks "I'm going to have to steal Naruto from you for a little while…"

"But he's _ours_," Tobi said grumpily. Sasuke chuckled, taking the boy from Naruto and holding him in his own arms. Naruto had to look to the floor. It was too cute. Next thing he knew, Tobi was looking up at him from the floor and there was a hand resting on his hip.

"Well now, that's a lie. Naruto is _mine,_" Sasuke said, smiling at the kids. They were all silent, and Naruto just spluttered. Sasuke smirked at him. "We'd best be off then. See you later, kids."

With that, Sasuke led him out of the room, a guiding hand on the small of the blonde's back. Naruto was too shocked to say anything until they were far enough from the room for the children not to hear him.

"Sasuke! What the hell?" He shouted, yanking the offending hand away from him. The dark-haired man lifted up his hands in defense and smirked.

"Sorry," he said "but I need you. It's Hotaru. This diagnosis is really difficult…" he frowned. Usually, he hated asking people for help, but he felt that he could make an exception for the blonde.

"Sure," Naruto said, seeming to have forgotten the last 5 or so minutes. He took the chart from Sasuke's hands and started to walk. Sasuke stood in shock for a moment: no one had ever taken a chart out of his hand... Then he just smiled, ran a hand through his hair and followed.

"Damn," he muttered, "he sure is something else…"

* * *

(1) Spoken like a true pro…I get burnt a lot OTL

(2) Hidan's tourettes, there…he can't control it. Forgive him. Who _doesn't_ love crumpets?

Heeeey guys! Look! An update! Instead of punching me, you should hug me. I worked hard on it (that's a lie…)

I've been working on my university application this week and I suddenly was overcome with the need to write (procrastinate) and then BLIMEY. Writing got done.

Writer's block is lifted at the _darndest_ times!

Anyway: I've missed you all! Gosh, it's been awful not hearing from anyone in so long…makes me cry inside.  
Leave a review or pm me or something to let me know you all still care… (do that even if you don't still care. I'm lonely.)


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